Effect of a Week-long Social Media Abstention on Sustained Attention Functions

50 participants between the ages of 18 and 30 years will be recruited for the study via fliers and word of mouth. Following consent procedures, those who choose to participate will be randomized to intervention or control. 25 will be randomly selected to be in the social media group and the other 25 will be selected to go 1 week without engaging with or viewing social media to the best of their ability.

All participants will complete a demographic form at baseline and a survey about their use of social media, as well as the Bergen Social Media Assessment Scale, and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Following that, they will complete the Stroop and the SART, described below. All 50 of them will be asked to take the SART and Stroop (Inquisit Millisecond versions) tests to obtain baseline attention and executive functioning measures. Temporary deletion of social media apps will be supervised by an investigator. Subjects will be given a daily brief report/log to record any use of social media through Redcap. At the end of the week a repeat SART, Stroop, and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing scale will be re-administered. The group that deleted their social media will then be able to redownload their social media if they so choose. A survey about their subjective experience at the conclusion of the week will then be given to all subjects.